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Permits for the precinct
Page 64
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by Anthony O'Toole
UNTIL April 30 this year, shop delivery vehicles were among the few wheeled machines allowed access to the much-publicized pedestrian shopping precinct in Leeds, but from that date the council has introduced regulations which effectively ban delivery vehicles from the precinct between 11.30 am and 3.30 pm.
The ban would have been much fiercer but for the activities of the Freight Transport Association and other bodies, whose objections to a proposed 10 am — 6 pm ban led to a public inquiry which resulted in the four-hour ban now implemented.
To meet practical delivery problems — such as vehicles arriving late through breakdowns or other emergency situations, and unalterable delivery schedules — Leeds Corporation has agreed to operate a permit scheme. Discussions have been held between Corporation officials and representatives of the FTA's Yorkshire division, but many aspects remain undecided — and already traders are suffering from the effects of the restrictions.
As yet no decision has been reached as to who will be responsible for the allocation of permits nor as to how the permit system would actually be operated — whether permits would be issued to fleet operators or to individual vehicles on arrival at the precinct is still to be decided.
The FTA, though, feels that the permit must be of a visible type which can be displayed in the vehicle's cab as proof of an authorized delivery, and that before any permit is issued a definite need will have to be proved.
Until the permit system is introduced, and to be successful it must by needs be extremely flexible, the situation regarding deliveries to the precinct is at present inadequate.
Trolley the goods As things stand at the present time the driver of any delivery vehicle arriving during the hours of restriction has few choices to ensure deliveries are carried out. He can either wait until 3.30 pm to make his delivery, return to the precinct outside the hours of restriction after making other deliveries or trolley the goods to their destination. Fortunately, in the case of the Leeds precinct it is by its design made up of restricted streets rather than a restricted area and therefore usually possible to take a vehicle quite close to the delivery point; but inevitably there is time wastage, and in the case of trolleying goods there could also be a security risk.
The precinct is made up of numerous types of shops and businesses and perhaps hardest hit of these are confectioners, of which there are about 10. Because of the nature of their business, confectioners rely on regular deliveries of fresh stock, and in the case of one such firm, Betty's Cafés Ltd, of Harrogate, it has been made necessary to cancel a regular Friday afternoon delivery to its precinct branch and the firm is no longer able to undertake outside catering as the service is usually required when the vehicle ban is in operation. A spokesman for Betty's Cafes Ltd, which runs its own fleet of six delivery vans, said that the majority of confectioners and fresh food shops had experienced similar difficulties and added that the Leeds Chamber of Trade had stated that all firms engaged in the delivery of perishable foodstuffs to the precinct would automatically be eligible for a permit on introduction of the system.
Why was it originally felt necessary to introduce vehicle delivery restrictions? A spokesman for Leeds Corporation said: "It is in the interests of the public to have a traffic-free shopping area and we believe these restrictions will cause few problems."
Increased costs
Hauliers and own-account operators involved in Leeds precinct deliveries who were interviewed by CM generally agreed that because of these restrictions they would have to face difficulties which could lead to increased costs. The old system presented no such problems and so far as they knew the public did not resent the intrusion of delivery vehicles in the precinct.
When the restrictions were approved at the public inquiry, Mr D. Ansbro, who represented the council, said that other cities planning to introduce pedestrian-only precincts could use the Leeds proposals as a precedent and include similar access restrictions. At present there are about 11 sizeable pedestrian-only precincts in Britain, and it has been suggested that this figure will more than treble over the next 10 years. If this is the case it is to be hoped that the proposals by Leeds Council are adopted by other councils only if and when the Leeds scheme has been shown to impose no unreasonable restraints on delivery of the very goods for which the shoppers enter the precinct. Too-inflexible rules could be self-defeating.